It is often assumed that Sufism stands opposed to Wahhabism. Wrong. Sufism and Wahhabism, in fact, share a fatal characteristic – they are religions of the status quo. In Pakistan, Sufism legitimises barbarities of inequality and starvation – ‘do nothing, it’s god’s will’ – while at the same time justifying structures of oppressive power, Pirism and landlordism, rather like Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. Contemporary Sufism, rather than being a solution to Pakistan’s problems, is the cause.

Sufism legitimises barbarities of inequality and starvation – ‘do nothing, it’s god’s will’ – while at the same time justifying structures of oppressive power, Pirism and landlordism, rather like Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia.

John – am I to understand that you agree with this critique?, it seems like ‘an opium of the masses’ arguement to me and I am not convinced that it is entirely fair to the legacy of Sufism in South Asia.

Those people are Sufi in the same sense that WECs are christians.
They represent a socio-political pseudo-religious aggregate that seeks to maintain the status quo and the local primacy of their memetic deme.

Interesting. I’d probably disagree with the author’s insistence that Sufism is the problem here, though. It looks as like sufism has just been coopted by a sort of feudalistic economic/political order. But there were valid points about some of the excesses, cults of personality and superstitions that can go along with sufism.

This is so specific to the subcontinent that I’m surprised the author felt at liberty to extract such sweeping generalizations. The ‘pir’ system is unknown in the Middle East and Africa. And while I am critical of Sufi organization–I think it does inherently foster cultlike behavior–this is certainly an extreme.

The reporting on this story is confusing, but I believe that most of the headlines are misleading. It is not that women were not allowed to open bank accounts before now, but women were not allowed to establish bank accounts for their children before, only the fathers were allowed to do so.

Does anyone know more details.

I fear the misleading headline is leading to promotion of misleading stereotypes about the position of women in the Muslim world rather than actually drawing attention to the real issues of discrimination and status of women.

Williams is right when he was reported to have warned that the “gap between rich and poor would lead to an increasingly “dysfunctional” society”, but I think he needs to go a step beyond simply capping this or that bonus and consider the structures and relationships which generate such a gap (I am sure Williams, a highly intelligent man, if not very media aware, is smart enough to realise this).

I think it goes beyond simply labelling a practice riba and prohibiting it, or finding a way around it given the dominance of capitalism. This is what appears to happen at present in Islamic finance. I am referring to some of our contemporary fundamental economic relationships, which are quite exploitative or lend themselves to exploitation.